Comments By Dan R.

It's all 'bout dem revs, man.

The one I use is the TND 525. For the dedicated units all it really comes down to is how much more you want screen size than you want money.

I've been known to do things like that. Once I finally get parked, I step out of the truck, walk out in front and take a nice long bow.

Urine is typical, but far from the worst you'll experience. You get used to it.

This is also why rules such as the no retaliation for safety complaints rule were such a fight to get in place. Stories just like this guy, 'drivers are going to use safety as a way to be lazy.' I've shut down a couple times for safety reasons other than weather, but if I've gotten 8 hours of sleep that would mean that I haven't gotten a load. Between getting the mind to quiet down and getting things like shower and meals done, if I get six hours that's a GREAT night.

The one big time I shut down was when I was driving and felt extremely dizzy. Dizzy enough I wouldn't have been able to walk. Ended up going to the hospital only to find out it was dehydration, so totally my own fault. I think the something that's kind of being passed over is that it's less about failing the load like you did, Werner, it's about your reaction to doing so. If you'd, for instance, come in here using the same story but from the approach of wanting to know how you can avoid it again, or do damage control with your dispatcher, something along those lines while admitting it was YOU that messed things up, not some mysterious 'I slept for 8 hours and am still fatigued' crap, the reaction here would be a lot different. Every single driver in here has messed up and would much rather help you avoid those kinds of problems or give suggestions on how to rectify the situation than waste their time trying to show you what the problem actually is.

Https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rand-mcnally-road-atlas/id624882974?mt=8

The GPS will do all of that for you, though. Whatever floats your boat!

No, they work off the satellites just like any other GPS. You can connect them to wifi for more features, but... that's the least of your worries with the tablets. Rand McNally is definitely the leader in the industry, and for good reason. But unless this latest iteration of their tablet models have significantly improved, I'd steer clear and go with the dedicated GPS unit. The tablets use unnecessarily sub-par computing power, not enough to reliably run the device. As handy as a GPS is while driving, if the app crashes (which, again unless they've made significant improvements, it will... often) then you'd best hope you planned out your turn-by-turn route, as otherwise you're basically driving blind.

Not to mention from what I experienced using one, there's a difference in the program itself between the tablets and the dedicated units. At least once a week, usually more, the tablet would give me completely incorrect directions, even trying to send me down unsafe routes. With the dedicated unit I have now I've not once had that problem following the given route(though admittedly if I miss a turn or a turn is inaccessible for one reason or another, sometimes the re-route isn't good). The only problem I had with the dedicated units is that its got a small memory leak and you need to shut it down to clear the RAM cache every two to three weeks.

My company also recommends backing up against a fence, the rear of another trailer, a wall, anything that will prevent the doors from being able to be opened. That, plus a nice lock and common sense, can make cargo theft pretty much a non-issue for you.

Need to be careful with near beer, too. It is not alcohol free, it just has significantly less alcohol. You get popped for a breath test while in the truck and having had near beer, you'll be just as out of service as if you'd had a regular beer or a shot.

I was someone that would watch Sons of Anarchy religiously. One of my favorite shows! That is until the series finale when the lead, Jax, has this big dramatic 'heros death' by going head on with a truck right where his dad died. As much as I enjoyed every episode before that, the fact that they don't address how screwed up that is seriously tarnished my feelings about the entire show. At the time it wasn't because of trucking, but when I was on fire departments I got to see first hand that kind of physical an emotional carnage. We had an SUV with an older couple that crossed the center line, skidded sideways and met a dump truck, each going around 55. The truck driver wasn't from the area, but it would not surprise me in the least based on what I saw him going through if he ended up taking his own life.

I tend to be of the opinion that suicide is an extremely selfish thing to do. But completely messing up the life of someone who has no connection at all to you by forcing them to kill you, that takes the cake for selfishness.